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Martin Dunn is senior of counsel based in Morrison & Foerster’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to his career in private law, Mr. Dunn spent 20 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, having served as Chief Counsel, Deputy Director and Acting Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance, as a highly respected counselor to public companies. Mr. Dunn “is an immensely respected regulatory expert… He provides high-end securities counseling on regulatory compliance and transactional matters.” as noted in Chambers USA.

Fortune 500 clients turn to Mr. Dunn for his skillful counsel on critical issues they face. He offers a unique insider's perspective and clients admire his ability to apply practical guidance to situations that they face every day. He provides guidance on corporate governance and securities laws to newly formed publicly traded companies as well as to established ones. Mr. Dunn counsels companies through the public offering process, including compliance with the SEC requirements and responses to SEC comments.

In his role with the SEC, Mr. Dunn supervised the Corporation Finance Division’s Offices of Chief Counsel, Chief Accountant, Mergers and Acquisitions, International Corporate Finance, Rulemaking, Small Business and Enforcement Liaison. He oversaw many of the SEC’s most significant initiatives on disclosure, governance and capital-raising, including reforming the securities offering process, updating Rule 144, implementing the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, adopting the plain English requirements for prospectuses, implementing electronic proxy delivery, and easing exempt and registered capital formation for small businesses.

Mr. Dunn is top ranked by Chambers USA in the area of Securities Regulation: Advisory, noting that he is a “‘preeminent securities lawyer’ and a ‘true expert’ in the field when it comes to advising on SEC regulation and corporate governance issues” (Chambers USA 2016). He has also been named a recommended lawyer by Legal 500 US for Capital Markets in Debt Offerings, Equity Offerings and High-Yield Offerings and is recognized by Who’s Who Legal: M&A and Governance 2016 as a Corporate Governance Lawyer. During his career at the SEC, he was the recipient of numerous awards, such as the SEC Capital Markets Award, SEC Regulatory Award, SEC Law and Policy Award, SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence, and the Federal Bar Association’s Philip A. Loomis, Jr. Award.

Mr. Dunn is frequently sought after to speak, write and comment on securities law topics. He is co-editor of the widely read newsletter, The Corporate Counsel a premier publication in the field. He is on the Executive Committee of the Northwestern University School of Law’s Securities Regulation Institute, a past Chair of the Northwestern University School of Law’s Ray Garrett Jr. Corporate and Securities Law Institute, and the University of Texas School of Law’s Conference on Securities Regulation and Corporate Law, and has been on the faculty of the ALI CLE’s Regulation D and Private Placements Conference for more than 20 years. Mr. Dunn also speaks frequently as a member of the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute.

Mr. Dunn is Co-Chair of the Nasdaq Listing and Hearing Review Council and he has been an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and the University of Maryland School of Law.

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